


The Alchemy of Life

by alexandeer



Series: The Alchemy of Life [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alchemist Adeline, Alchemy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood Adoption, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Cursebreaker Adeline, Evil Albus Dumbledore, F/F, F/M, Family Dynamics, France (Country), Genius Harry Potter, Good Death Eaters, Good Malfoy Family (Harry Potter), Good Severus Snape, Grief, Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Harry Potter is a Horcrux, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Hogwarts First Year, Hogwarts Inter-House Unity, James has a sister, Lawyer Lucius, Lucius has a sister, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Philosopher's Stone(s), Pre-Hogwarts, Random Updates, Rating May Change, Ravenclaw Harry Potter, Ravenclaw Hermione Granger, Resurrection, Sane Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Sane Voldemort (Harry Potter), Severus Snape is Not a Teacher, Smart Harry Potter, Tags May Change, This is a fanfic of my own fanfic basically, Wards, Warnings May Change, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-04 20:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17311724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexandeer/pseuds/alexandeer
Summary: Adeline is doing an apprenticeship with Nicholas Flamel to receive her Alchemy mastery. Together they are researching the similarities of the resurrection stone and the philosopher's stone. Adeline, Evangeline and Nicholas come up with a plan to resurrect the Dark Lord (to restore the balance of magic and their world) and with a plan to restore his sanity. They start to research and collect his horcruxes when they realise Harry is one, and that they cannot safely remove it.In the mean time Harry grows up in a home surrounded by love, books and the smartest people in the wizarding world and becomes a genius and happy boy. He doesn't like manipulation and questions everything, which ruins every single plan Dumbledore has for him. It frustrates the man to no end.This is the story of how Harry grew up and his first year at Hogwarts.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Art of Far and Near](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17288429) by [alexandeer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexandeer/pseuds/alexandeer). 
  * Inspired by [1st year of Chaos](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15700731) by [Elyrian_XIII](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elyrian_XIII/pseuds/Elyrian_XIII). 



> If this chapter seems familiar to you, it's because the first chapter of this work and the art of far and near (one of my other works) are the same. After this things change quite a bit so the rest of the story will be different but the basic concept is the same: Harry is raised by his aunts Evangeline and Adeline in France and is surrounded by people who care about him. He is also super smart and his aunts resurrect the Dark Lord with Nicholas Flamel's help. All the other details will be changed. Unlike the other fic Harry will be in a relationship (eventually) with someone his own age, rather than Tom and Severus and also he will most likely be a ravenclaw. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this and the rest of this fic :) And feel free to leave suggestions about things you would like to see in this fic!

Evangeline, Adaline and Severus had determined that tonight would be the night Voldemort attacked the Potters. Evangeline and Severus were currently hiding behind countless concealment charms and behind some strategically placed bushes. Adaline had stayed home at their manor in France, something which Evangeline was glad about. Things could turn ugly very quickly and she didn’t want her beloved wife to get hurt. 

She knew she wouldn’t be able to save her brother’s whole family which consisted of him, James, his wife Lily, their son Harry and their unborn child. She knew Severus wanted to save Lily and the boy, he held no love for James and Evangeline could not blame him after the cruelties her brother and his friends had subjected him to. Evangeline wasn’t exactly fond of Lily, not after she had abandoned her and Severus in their fifth year. Not that she wanted to see either of them dead. If she could she would save Lily and James, but if she could only save one person from this badly warded hell hole she would save their son. 

Severus and Evangeline watched as Voldemort, Wormtail and two other death eaters arrived. It was a small group, but she knew Voldemort would expect this to be easy. If James and Lily weren’t using everything they knew about magic, it would be easy to kill a toddler. Evangeline knew someone else had to have placed these wards, she couldn’t see her brother’s or his wife’s magical signature. Whoever had placed them was either an incompetent idiot or had purposefully messed with them. They gave the illusion of safety, but it was just that; an illusion. 

Evangeline waited before Voldemort and his followers entered the house before signalling to Severus to follow her. She swallowed when she saw the house light up in the telling green colour of the killing curse and blasted the door open. She threw a disembowelment curse at Pettigrew, making him scream in pure agony and then stunned the two death eaters. She placed a binding spell on the trio which wouldn’t allow them to leave unless dead or taken by someone else. 

Then she and Severus walked upstairs, listening to the Dark Lord argue with Lily. He asked her to step aside three times, but she refused. She was desperate to save her son and was willing to do anything to protect him. It was one of the few things Evangeline appreciated about her. 

“He kept his promise.” Severus whispered softly, “I didn’t think he would.” He sounded confused. 

It was very surprising Voldemort kept his promise, although it likely would not save Lily anyways, as the man wasn’t exactly sane these days. It was why Evangeline and Adaline had moved to France and lived under a Fidelius Charm. As they had not taken the mark, it meant they were safe from the Dark Lord’s ever diminishing sanity. 

She watched Severus turn pale and his eyes tear up when they heard Voldemort say the killing curse again. Lily’s last words reminded her son that he was loved. 

“Come on,” Evangeline whispered and pulled Severus with her. 

They entered the small bedroom where Harry was crying in his crib and Voldemort had his wand pointed at the toddler. Evangeline cast a quick body bind, while Severus levitated a mirror in front of Voldemort as the man himself was firing another killing curse. It reflected on him and made him scream from the undoubtedly terrible pain. He was reduced to ash, bones and blood. There was also a wraith hanging around Harry and a slight sliver of the Dark Lord’s soul which attached itself to the toddler. 

Severus quickly gathered some of it, knowing Adaline had certain plans with it and it was easier to focus on this rather than on grieving his once friend. Evangeline quickly picked up Harry and grabbed some of his belongings. She noticed a box that noted it contained precious items in her brother’s handwriting and shrunk it to place it in the pocket of her robes. 

Neither of them had noticed the wraith or the small soul piece. The wraith was interested that they collected his remains. Normally this only happened when someone was planning to resurrect a person, yet these people had just killed him. He recognised them, his dearest Severus and the bright witch who was so unlike her brother who fought on a different side. Voldemort, in his wraith form, decided to follow them and see what they were planning. He attached himself to Severus’s robes and felt them all apparate away. 

 

When Albus Dumbledore entered the Potter house in Godric’s Hollow, which he had warded and placed under a fidelius he noticed Peter Pettigrew, with insides that were definitely no longer inside, two men with death eaters masks that were stunned and James Potter’s dead body. He walked upstairs and saw Lily, but not the boy. There were some bones, ash and blood on the floor that clearly belonged to an adult. Had someone taken the boy?

All these months of careful scheming had been destroyed because someone had clearly not stuck to the plan. It had been bad enough that Severus Snape had not joined his side, he had hoped to make the man make a vow but he had not come. Dumbledore had just received a note that asked to hide the Potters but Severus never stopped by. It meant he had to actually find another Potions teacher, as Slughorn had decided to retire. Very annoying. 

But now the boy was gone too. A terrible thing. Still, he could spin a story. He would either use the Longbottom boy or say Harry was placed with relatives. Yes that would be good. He was sure he could find the child before it was time to attend Hogwarts, if not he could always create a Golem and claim someone had killed the boy. 

He also needed to figure out how to deal with Sirius, now Peter was bleeding all over the carpet. Dumbledore wanted to seriously curse whoever had come here before him. How dare they ruin his plans?! Now he would need to start planning all over again and use up even more favors, terrible!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2, as you can see is different from the other work already! It's not as long as the first chapter but I hope people will still enjoy it :) Feel free to leave suggestions etc!

Adeline realised how useful it was to not only have her scheming mother around but Nicholas Flamel as well, who was her teacher as well as the kindest and smartest man she had ever had the privilege of knowing. And it was a privilege to be taught by the greatest Alchemist of all times, the only one who had managed to make a philosopher’s stone and who had brewed the elixir of life. 

He had pointed out it was best if they asked the French branch of Gringotts to send someone to them, rather than take Harry elsewhere. If Dumbledore was planning something, and Nicholas feared his former student would be, it was best to keep Harry safely within the walls of the Manor. 

Nicholas, Evangeline and Perenelle had warded this manor themselves and had done an excellent job. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, that happened without them knowing within these wards. 

It was not only under a Fidelius, which Nicholas had cast and of which Perenelle was the secret keeper but they had also added apparition wards that only allowed a very select group of people to apparate on the property and several blood wards, keyed into the family members and the Flamels. Then they had added more complex wards, which even the most skilled curse-breakers couldn’t get through which they of course had let the Goblins test for a fee. On top of that people could only enter the wards if they had no malicious intent towards the manors residents and were invited in. There was no way to trick these wards and this made the house one of the safest places on earth.

It helped that Evangeline was one of Gringotts’ most talented curse breakers in centuries and that Nicholas was well-respected by their nation for the things he had accomplished and for the wealth he had brought to their bank. The bank immediately send three goblins to the manor through their private floo.

 

They had been informed of the situation discreetly by Perenelle, who had accompanied them on their trip to the manor and informed them of all the details they needed to know. She wanted to make the process as safe and quick as possible, knowing the little boy could probably use a nap. Plus, she figured Severus and Evangeline needed to rest as well. It had to have been a devastating and difficult night for both of them, even though both of them pretended to be strong. 

Perenelle had already conjured up a crib where the child could rest before they went to shop for supplies. She already viewed him as a grandson, like she viewed Evangeline, Adeline and Severus as her children. She would make sure this young boy, whatever he would be named after the adoption, would have the best possible life. She vowed to destroy anyone who harmed her new grandson and the magic of those words surrounded them and bound them together. The old woman wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Perenelle grabbed the remains Severus and Evangeline had brought a long and stored them in one of the labs. She didn’t think it was sanitary to leave them in her kitchen, after all she prepared her food there. Even though people sometimes thought she and her husband were vampires, they were not and Perenelle most certainly didn’t fancy ingesting someone’s blood. 

She scanned the room to see if anything else needed to be taken care of and spotted the wraith. It was impossible for most wizards and witches to see a wraith and creatures and beings similar to one, but after centuries of training her abilities she could. 

“Well, I suppose saying good evening would be rather improper,” She said with a half smile, “after the evening you have had? Though, things seem to be looking up Mr. Voldemort.” She stated.

The wraith just looked at her in confusion and glared a little. After living for centuries, Perenelle wasn’t impressed by men glaring at her. Of course she never had been. 

“Yes, I know who you are.” She said, “Now please do behave until my children and husband can speak to you. They are planning to bring your body back after all.” She smiled at Voldemort, “I would advise you to lay off the horcruxes next time, though how you found that information is beyond me. I shall have to investigate. Good evening Mr Voldemort.” She said before leaving the room. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My muse is overexcited so here is another chapter :D Have fun reading and feel free to leave suggestions!!

The goblins and wizards had all gathered in one of the dining rooms. Gringotts had send three very skilled goblins, Healer Granlaff, Archivist Argok and Teller Urkit. Nicholas Flamel would trust the goblins with his life and more importantly his life’s work and could tell the bank had send some of their brightest employees indeed.

Archivist Argok did an inheritance test on Adeline and Evangeline to ensure they were who they said they were and not under the influence of polyjuice or any spells that would interfere with the adoption process. In the meantime Healer Granlaff and Severus prepared the blood adoption potion. Nicholas fondly noted that Severus wouldn’t let anyone he cared about take a potion that was not made or checked by him. 

Teller Urkit busied himself with the will of James and Lily. It was tragic, Nicholas felt, when people died so young while he had the ability to grow as old as he wished. He knew death and war were a part of life but it saddened him greatly nonetheless. He suspected that the day it no longer hurt to lose people and to watch the world ache, would be the day his soul had died. 

Argok confirmed everything was in order and let Adeline and Evangeline add their blood to the potion. It was then carefully mixed together and given to Harry who made a disgusted face at the taste. They could see the magic swirl around the toddler and watched his features change. His hair was no longer black, though still messy and curly, but had become the pale shade of blond the Malfoys were known for. The shape of his eyes changed too but surprisingly his bright green eyes remained the same. That was all they could see for now, the boy was too young to notice other changes. 

“Interesting,” Nicholas said, “His eyes remained the same. I have read about this, but can’t recall what exactly. I must try and find that book soon.” He mumbled to himself, then smiled at the two women he considered his daughters. “Congratulations darlings, you are now mothers.” 

Adeline smiled back before she kissed her wife’s cheek. Evangeline picked up Harry and cuddled him, which made the little boy smile too. The taste of potion had clearly already been forgotten as he grabbed hold of Evangeline’s hair. 

“What will you name him?” Severus asked as he too smiled. Which was a true miracle, the Potion Master’s smiles were a very rare sight after all. 

“I suggest we name him Hadrian, as it is similar to his birth name, Duane Abraxas Jamie Malfoy-Potter. Duane means Little Dark One and Abraxas after my father and Jamie after his own father.” She paused for a second and then said, “Hadrian Malfoy for everyday use.” 

“I like those names,” Evangeline smiled, “Honouring his father but also yours, while also allowing him to be his own person.” She said. 

Nicholas, Severus and the goblins also agreed the names were nice. When Perenelle was told later, she was delighted by the names and by the fact she now had a grandson. Heloise Malfoy was delighted to have a second grandchild too, she loved her other grandson Draco but felt she saw too little of him as she lived in France and her precious boys lived in England. Now she had another child in her life to spoil and she was extremely excited about it. This child, she decided, would everything his heart could desire.   
  


Upon receiving his sister’s message, Lucius and his family rushed to the manor in France. The last few days had been stressful and knowing he had not succeeded in talking the Dark Lord out of attacking the Potters weighed heavily on Lucius. He was relieved to hear that Evangeline and Severus had saved Harry at least. 

Adeline hugged her brother immediately when he came through the floo. In public he often acted cold and put together but around family he let go of those things and was much freer and nicer. She loved her brother and the only thing she hated about France was that her brother lived further away. 

Then she hugged Narcissa who was holding Draco, “Hey little Dragon, you have a new cousin now.” She said happily and Draco smiled widely at her. 

“Play!” He demanded.

Narcissa shook her head and sighed a little, “Later, my darling Draco, I think your cousin needs a rest first.” She said gently. 

Draco seemed to ponder over this for a moment and then nodded. His grandmother soon took him in her arms, having missed her grandson so much, and cuddled with him. Draco was very happy with all this attention.  
  


Perenelle had put Harry in his cot and sang him to sleep with a french lullaby she remembered from her childhood. She had not sung it for a while and was glad she had a reason to now. It would be good, to have a young child around the house again. Children always lit up the world just a little bit more.   
  


Lucius and Narcissa were brought up to speed with everything that had happened in the past day and were told about what Nicholas and Adeline were planning to do. It was a big risk, they all realised, but having a sane Dark Lord back would bring back balance to their world. A much needed balance. 

“Albus was once my student, and a bright one indeed,” Nicholas stated sadly, “but he has entered a path I cannot agree with that is filled with greed and a lust for power and fame. I am afraid the only people who can stop him are your Dark Lord and Hadrian and I don’t think it is at all fair to put this on a toddler’s shoulders.” He sighed, “No, not all, though I suspect that is what Albus intends to do. It is a tragic thing to see how far he has sunken.” 

“He was once kind,” Perenelle added, “Eager to learn and he had a desire to make the world a better place. I think this desire to create a greater good has blinded him and after his encounters with Grindelwald, their lost friendship and even love, he started on this path that will ultimately only bring pain and destruction of our world, our ways and our magic.” She looked down, “The world needs light and dark, good and evil. Too much of one things destroys the balance and if there is no balance eventually everything implodes.” 

Everyone agreed that resurrecting the Dark Lord was indeed needed. They would need to be careful of course and find out why he had become insane. Perenelle and Nicholas had an idea about this already, but needed to research the particular magic of horcruxes some more. It had been a while since they had last encountered it and so it was hard to sense that type of magic but they were determined. 

Lucius and Narcissa agreed to move in with their son. It would be much safer anyways. Even though Lucius was sure he would not be charged with anything, there would be people who wanted to have vengeance so badly they would do it themselves. Lucius understood of course. It had been war, he had killed and tortured people. His hands were definitely not as clean as his image was. If someone had hurt his family, he would get his revenge too but that was exactly why he didn’t want to remain in Britain. He didn’t want his precious family to get hurt, he loved them far too much. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went to see Crimes of Grindelwald today and I really liked the movie (though it did make me realise my Nicholas Flamel is quite different hehe) Did any of you see the movie too? I got a ton of new ideas after watching it!
> 
> Some needed notes for this chapter now:
> 
> The idea of linking eye colour with certain magic comes from [Frankfurt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frankfurt/pseuds/Frankfurt) from a comment on this chapter ([126](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16775065/chapters/40643147)) of the bunny pool. I will be incorporating these ideas into this fic some more throughout the story :)
> 
> Adalbert Waffling is the author of several textbooks. He is a magical theoretician so I felt it would be fitting that he wrote about this subject too. 
> 
> Ángela Ruiz Robles invented the Mechanical Encyclopedia in 1949 which is considered the precursor to the e-reader and was the world's first automated reader. Throughout this fic I intend to have inventions, historical figures and such stop by, which was inspired by [BeyondHope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeyondHope/pseuds/BeyondHope)'s fic, 1st Year of Chaos which I suggest everyone checks out because it is amazing!
> 
> Hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Feel free to leave suggestions and such :) Which historical character would you like to see in this fic?

Evangeline and Adeline debated whether they should do the shopping for their new son in Place Cachée or go to the nearby muggle town. They opted to go with the latter as they were certain it would be much safer and would have less prying eyes. 

Perenelle agreed to watch her new grandson and Draco while Severus decided to start doing research with Nicholas and Lucius. Narcissa and Heloise joined the other two witches on their shopping trip. 

“Almost like Hogsmeade weekends,” Narcissa said fondly, “Except back then we were more concerned with books, candy and the latest fashion items. Being a mother changes your priorities. Though I still love the things I always have, I love my son much more.” She smiled. 

“I have always admired the unconditional love parents have for their children,” Evangeline said with a gentle smile, “and I already feel that way about Hadrian.” She took her wife’s hand and squeezed it, “Family is the most important thing in the world.” 

All the ladies agreed with that statement and began their trip to the tiny town, just a dozen miles away. The weather was nice so they had decided to walk, should they make large purchases they could always shrink them discreetly and put it in their handbags. Each of them had an undetectable extension charm and a featherlight charm placed on their bags, which was always handy on a shopping trip.   
  


Nicholas went through his library, trying to find the correct text. It was rather unfortunate, he felt, that one needed to look through all these physical copies to find what they were looking for. Someone should really invent an easier method, a device which held several books with the information you wanted. 

That reminded him of his old friend Angela. Miss Ruiz Robles had invented such a thing and gifted him one of her prototypes for her Mechanical Encyclopedia. He should have it somewhere still. He decided he would look for it, after he found the book ‘Magical Abilities and the Colour of the Eye’ by Adalbert Waffling. It was a subject that was very rarely taught or spoken about, but endlessly fascinating and Adalbert had written a lot about the theory behind the phenomenon. 

Nicholas was certain Hadrian’s green eyes were linked to a magical ability as well, though he was currently unsure which. He was determined to find out, however. As well as how to revive Tom Riddle and reduce his madness. 

He had given Severus and Lucius the task to read about Horcruxes as he and Perenelle were sure the man had made those. The Killing Curse, even a reflected one would have completely obliterated him otherwise. Yet he had turned into a wraith which was a terrible fate for any being to suffer. 

 

After a little while the four women reached the town and decided to have lunch first. They were all quite thirsty after their walk as it had been unusually hot and sunny for November. They sat down at a quaint café and ordered sandwiches and lattes. 

It was while they were having coffee that their unexpected, and frankly unwelcome, guest found them. 

“Sirius Black,” Evangeline said coldly. “Come to call us filthy death eaters again. I must remind you we are in a muggle establishment so it would be unwise to sprout your usual nonsense. We don’t want to anger to ministry.” 

“They are death eaters,” Sirius hissed. Though by Merlin’s grace he was at least quiet about it. 

“I am not a death eater, Mr Black.” Adeline glared at him, “I never took the mark and I have been in France ever since this blasted war started. Do not make assumptions about people. Especially when they are unfounded.” 

“I’ll prove it.” Sirius said, “Evangeline, come on, we have to protect Harry from these people.” He urged and started to pull on Evangeline’s arm, “James wouldn’t want you to hang out with that lot.” 

Evangeline stood up and send her meanest glare Sirius’s way. Bystanders shivered at the pure hatred in her eyes. 

“ _That lot_ are my mother-in-law, my lovely wife and my wonderful friend. James was the best man at my wedding so I believe it is safe to say he is perfectly fine with the people who accompany me. Do not presume you can speak for my dead brother, Sirius Orion Black,” Evangeline’s voice was calm but her anger was clear in each word she spoke. “You were always a bully and I can see you have not changed. Until you do, it is you who Harry needs to be kept safe from.” 

Sirius opened his mouth to protest but Evangeline waved him away. “Have a nice day, Mr Black. Now please excuse me while my companions and I finish our lunch.” She said and looked away from him. 

The other ladies ignored him too and when he did not leave some employees of the cafe escorted him away.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one isn't very long but I hope people like it nonetheless! Feel free to leave suggestions and such in the comments <3

Perenelle and Nicholas sat down with Evangeline. It had been an eventful few days, so most of the manor’s inhabitants had gone to bed early. Perenelle sensed the young woman needed to talk, though she always needed a little push before she shared her feelings.

Nicholas poured her and his wife a glass of scotch, he preferred vodka himself for his late night drinks.

“So dearest, would you like to share what’s plaguing your mind?” Perenelle asked encouragingly. 

Evangeline took a sip of her drink and then a deep breath, “I’m just so angry,” She said sadly, “I asked James to come here. I knew our manor is one of the safest places on earth so when he told me they had to go in hiding, I practically begged him to live here.” She gripped her glass so tightly her knuckles turned white. “He said he had joined Dumbledore’s order, that he had to fight in that bloody war. If that stupid bastard had only listened to me he and his family would all be alive.” She started to cry. 

Perenelle immediately wrapped her arms around the raven-haired woman and let her sob against her shoulders. 

“I know, my angel,” Perenelle said, “and it has to ache. Death makes us sad and angry and so much more. It’s a cruel thing, especially when things could have been different. James was determined to fight for what he believed it and it’s a tragic thing it got him killed.” The woman said mournfully. 

“Lily was expecting another child, Harry would have had both of his parents and a little sibling.” Evangeline cried, “My brother could be an utter prat, but he was still my prat even if I needed to kick his ass sometimes.” She smiled sadly, “I just wish he didn’t have to be a bloody idiotic Gryffindor for once in his life.” 

 

Talking about James had made Evangeline just how much it had hurt to lose her brother, especially since it had only been a year since their parents died of dragonpox. Her brother was often so infuriating and arrogant and so incredibly annoying, but she had still cared for him. They were once as close as could be, until they started Hogwarts. 

At Hogwarts things had changed between them and their relationship had soured. Evangeline didn’t give a damn who was in which house but James and his friends had immediately decided all Slytherins were evil. While Evangeline wasn’t a Slytherin herself, she was a happy and proud Hufflepuff, many of her close friends were. James and his friends seemed to be unable to accept this and were determined to “save” her. They didn’t care that she was independent, had a strong will and could make her own choices. 

Her brother had a thing for playing the hero. It was the thing that got him killed. Because instead of making a well-educated decision, he just had to keep on fighting for Dumbledore’s order. Had to save the fucking world again, just as he always tried. Now James, Lily and the unborn baby were dead and Harry lost his family. Evangeline lost her bastard of a brother and she missed him. She wanted to revive him, just to kick his ass and hug him one more time. 

 

It wasn’t difficult to find Severus when he was upset. He would either be brewing or hiding in the library, and indeed the library was where Adeline found him. She was carrying Harry, who had woken up and started to cry. He wouldn’t calm down until she started to walk around with him. He had fallen asleep again and was drooling on her shoulder, though Adeline found she didn’t mind this at all. The well-being of her little boy was more important than anything in the world. 

“Hey Sev,” Adeline greeted softly. Her friend look so exhausted and heartbroken, it broke her heart to watch. 

“Hey,” He gave her a sad smile. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked gently. Severus shook his head and embraced her instead. 

“I’d already lost her, after what happened in our fifth year. No matter how many times I apologised, she would not forgive me for what I said. But even that was not as final as this is. Now I know I truly will never have her in my life again.” He stated, his voice barely audible. “I don’t know who she was the past few years but I am mourning the friend she once was, again.” A tear rolled down his cheeks and Adeline wiped it away with her thumb. 

“I am sorry, my friend, I truly am.” She said and hugged him tighter. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on a roll with this story! :) The group are finally figuring some things out!

It took a few weeks but eventually everyone had found a new rhythm. It took some getting used to living with new people, the amount of people living in the manor had grown drastically after that dreaded night after all.

 

Draco and Harry had each gotten their own nursery. Draco’s room had a green theme and was decorated with little wands, cauldrons and brooms while Harry’s was blue and was decorated with animals, cauldrons and books. 

Lucius and Narcissa had decorated their room a little too. Narcissa had tasked Dobby with retrieving some important items from their manor in Wiltshire and had changed the room to her tastes together with Heloise. The walls were now a gorgeous navy blue and the room had some tasteful golden details. 

The two Malfoy ladies had also decorated Severus’s room, and managed to sneak in some hints of colour into his chamber.    
  


While Heloise and Narcissa worked on the interior design of the house and made sure everyone functioned like adults with Perenelle, the others focused on their research. If it wasn’t for Heloise, Perenelle and Narcissa they would certainly never leave the library. They had missed quite a few meals before the women caught on and forced them all to take periodical breaks. 

Lucius was skimming through one of the many ancient tomes the Flamel library contained on Horcruxes and other dark magic when something caught his eyes. There was a drawing that showed the effects of repeated creation of horcruxes on the body. He noticed that a lot of symptoms had been present on the Dark Lord before he died. 

_ “The whites of the wizard or witches eyes will become blood red. Vision will become worse as the eyes deteriorate. The skin will become paler than the dead and undead indeed. The face will become distorted, the creator of the horcruxes will no longer look quite human.”  _ Lucius read the entry out loud and swore under his breath. He couldn’t imagine mutilating yourself in such a way repeatedly, until you were no longer yourself.

“That sounds like Voldemort, for sure.” Evangeline sighed and shook her head, then read something from the book on her lap, “ _ The creation of horcruxes, the darkest magic there is, is known to lead to instability of the soul. This affects the physical appearance as well as the mental well-being of the individual. The creator of the horcrux will become more and more insane because of the nature of the horcrux ritual and the decrease of the soul.”  _

“One has to commit murder in order to create a horcrux,” Nicholas said thoughtfully, “It has been theorised that murder destroys the soul, piece by piece. Combined with taking away pieces of the soul, usually dividing what is left in two, there will be very little humanity left within those foolish enough to attempt it.” The old man said in disgust. “It is the most dangerous, foolish and vile magic to attempt. It makes me wonder how Mr Riddle gained access to the knowledge.” 

“Indeed,” Evangeline agreed, “That information is only published in  _ Secrets of the Darkest Art _ , a book that has been heavily restricted and forbidden to be around minors since at least 1780. I only read it during my last week of training as a cursebreaker and had to be accompanied by two Goblins to gain access to it.” She paused for a second, “Either, they didn’t check Hogwarts properly or someone gave the book to him.” 

Adeline sorted through her memories and then realised how she knew that title. Unlike Evangeline, she knew little about curse breaking and was not as familiar with rare Dark Arts books as her wife was but she had seen this title before. 

“Headmaster Dumbledore has a copy of the book in his office,” Adeline gasped, “I saw it once during a detention, it was on his desk and obscured by other books but I recognise that title. They kept a book like that at Hogwarts instead of destroying it…” 

It seemed preposterous that the Headmaster of Hogwarts would allow such a book to remain on school grounds, but the more they found out about the old man, the more they realised he was most certainly not above doing evil and vile things. 

“I think you ought to inform your employers, Evangeline.” Nicholas said quietly, his face blank with shock. 

He had known Albus had gone onto a dark and twisted path, that he was not above risking other people’s lives for his  _ greater good  _ but the thought that he would expose children to the worst rituals and magic that exists, was difficult to comprehend. Nicholas realised his former student was further gone than he had previously imagined.    
  


Adeline rested her head on her wife’s chest. They had taken Harry into their room and he was now sleeping peacefully in a crib.  Though he was very young, the night of the attack had had its effects on him too. He would often cry when he was alone and didn’t sleep well. Whenever he could hear their voices, it didn’t matter what they said, he would drift of quickly and sleep more soundly. It was a small thing with huge effects. 

“I can’t believe Dumbledore is allowed to run a school, still.” Evangeline sighed deeply. 

“We have to trust that he will meet his fate some day, my love.” Adeline said, “as deeply disturbing as his actions are.” 

“I suppose you are right. It would help if we manage to get a sane Dark Lord back,” Evangeline replied, “then at least we will not be fighting two fronts.” She sighed. 

“I remember Voldemort from when I was a little girl,” Adeline said softly, “He used to have such great plans for our world, such dreams. He was sane then and the smartest person in the world. I admired him so much and I told myself I would always follow him.” She smiled sadly. 

“We did, and we follow his old ideals. But lately he was no longer that man and no longer following what he once fought for. I hope we can change that.” Evangeline said and placed a kiss on top of Adeline’s head.    
  


The two witches drifted off to sleep and had not noticed the wraith that was listening to their conversation. The little boy in the crib had however and waved at him with a cute smile. Voldemort was finally starting to see just how terrible he had been, how many mistakes he had made and how flawed he had become. He vowed to change that, to be better. He needed to.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is pretty short, but the next chapter will be longer again! Happy reading!

Evangeline had notified her employers of her suspicions regarding Dumbledore, which was added to a rather large file on the man. Then she had asked the Ministry, on behalf of the Goblins, if they could search the school for any inappropriate books. Evangeline was fairly certain they only listened because of her last name. They had been uninterested before, but the last name Potter had become very important to them. They wouldn’t risk pissing any of them off. 

Unfortunately, someone had notified Dumbledore and he had moved the book to the restricted section. He pretended he had no knowledge of this book being there, even though Evangeline and her fellow cursebreakers knew that was a lie. The aurors could not arrest him though, without tangible proof so the old man got away with it. This time at least. Evangeline was confident that he would be caught red handed one day. 

She took note of the fact that he had been warned. It meant that he had spies inside the Ministry, people who were loyal enough to him at least to endanger their own jobs. This meant that if they were to defeat him, they needed people of their own inside the Ministry and that they had to take a slower approach. They had to destroy his reputation before they could destroy the man.

After playing a concerned citizen, which was mostly true, in front of the journalists of several Wizarding papers, Evangeline went home. She was greeted by Perenelle and Adeline who both hugged her tightly. 

“I hate when you go off to do dangerous things,” Adeline said softly, “especially when it involves Dumbledore.” 

“I know, my love,” Evangeline kissed her wife, “but I am here, I am safe.” She hugged her again and didn’t want to let go.


End file.
